Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Kushboo; The scapegoat of Tamilnadu

Actress Kushboo is in a real mess. She has committed a heinous crime by speaking her mind out. And Suhasini, the famous south actress and director wife of famous director Mani Ratnam also made to eat humble pie for her remarks supporting Kushboo. What’s the big issue? Kushboo publicly stated that pre-marital sex is not a sin, but a reality and no man should expect his spouse to be virgin. Well, not verbatim but in this meaning. It was more than enough for the moral police to charge her with everything except murder and drag her to the court. While some of the courts dismissed the petitions as baseless, some courts thought otherwise. So as it is, she is fighting a (losing?) battle. All by herself.

She was just speaking the plain truth and these could have used to make the hugely innocent and unknowing people to become aware about the perils of un-protected sex and sexual education. Instead they chose to ignore the issue and make her pay for her openness.

Let us check some startling statistics.

In India, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is assuming catastrophic proportions. In fact India is on the verge of breaking the 1% of total population barrier. It must have already but as you know the statistics regarding AIDS/HIV is very vague. The stigma and discrimination attached to this disease is stopping people from going in for check-ups and confirming. And they keep on spreading it to unsuspecting partners

Check the following figures;

NATIONAL AIDS CONTROL PROGRAMME, INDIAAIDS CASES IN INDIA (Reported to NACO)(As on 31st July, 2005)

S. No.

State/UT

AIDS Cases

1

Andhra Pradesh

12349

2

Assam

225

3

Arunachal Pradesh

0

4

A & NIslands

33

5

Bihar

155

6

Chattisgarh

0

7

Chandigarh (UT)

1260

8

Delhi

970

9

Daman & Diu

1

10

Dadra & NagarHaveli

0

11

Goa

567

12

Gujarat

5636

13

Haryana

486

14

Himachal Pradesh

252

15

Jharkhand

0

16

Jammu & Kashmir

2

17

Karnataka

2896

18

Kerala

1769

19

Lakshadweep

0

20

Madhya Pradesh

1396

21

Maharashtra

13747

22

Orissa

467

23

Nagaland

736

24

Manipur

2866

25

Mizoram

106

26

Meghalaya

8

27

Pondicherry

302

28

Punjab

292

29

Rajasthan

1153

30

Sikkim

8

31

Tamilnadu

52036

32

Tripura

5

33

Uttranchal

0

34

Uttar Pradesh

1383

35

West Bengal

2397

36

A,badMun.Corp.

621

37

Chennai M.C.

0

38

Mumbai M.C

7484

Total:

111608

Tamilnadu has the highest cases reported this year!

So sex is not a forbidden fruit here any more! As per NACO statistics more than 85% are infected by sexual transmission. But don’t be scared yet! What you are seeing the just the tip of iceberg. The real mountain is under water, hidden from your eyes.

The need of the hour is to educate people about the perils of this and do some serious work to prevent it’s further spreading. But these people seems to be enveloped in some false issues like Tamil Pride and petty stuff like that. In any other state Kushboo could become a AIDS spokesperson and the government would jump to have her on the AIDS awareness programs considering her enormous fan following. Remember, once these same Tamilians built a temple for her.

We should admit that India is indeed changing. The veiled and sex-is-taboo girl is already banished to the pages of history. And why not? It is not in any society’s interest to keep females chained to the tradition and discipline. When men can not adhere to these rules, how can you expect your woman to be?

The last but not least. Watch any of these Tamil Channels for Film songs, and serials. There you can see scantily clad females dancing with their Heroes and these very people enjoy and watch it. What can you call it except hypocrisy? What they say is not what they speak for. Just double standard male chauvinistic mentality. It’s time that every one take a real view at the grim situation and work in unison. If you keep clinging to your beliefs and hope for the best, one day the catastrophic wind that is brewing right under your nose, called AIDS, will blow away you with it’s sheer power and then there won’t be any time to make amends. So rally behind people who are seeing the reality instead of crucifying them.

4 comments:

The attitude of the Tamil ruling junta is scary and talibanistic. Khushboo should be commended for speaking out. Persecuting her for doing the right thing will send the wrong message to people like her who can influence public opinion.

1. Pre Marital sex is here!. That's the truth. There is no denying it. That's the gist of what Kushboo said (not me!) Its NOT just metros or Mumbai or Delhi that the "pre marital sex" is happening. There are also extra maritals going on all over India

2. *Tamil Nadu is NO exception*. There are surveys that show that approx 40% of college students have had sex before marriage !!! Now please don't come back and tell me ONLY MEN had sex, and that too all by themselves...

3. Tamil movies have as much sex portrayed in them as bollywood movies. In fact there is a great competition there in showing more sex

4. What happens in Indian cities gets noticed and has a multiplier effect. It's soon followed by others in smaller towns and villages

5. The dress, the dance, the music... the cinema ... these have always moved from cities to towns to villages

6. So would this "sex" thing move to every place

7. Womens lib is calling this "freedom of expression" and *supporting Kushboo*http://www.hindu.com/2005/11/18/stories/2005111817091400.htm

8. So to me it looks like Kushboo has a point. *Men who expect their wife to be a virgin are fools*